The Perks of Being Emil Steilsson
by attatched to crayons
Summary: Emil has moved to America for the year to study abroad and decides to record his life through his senior year of American high school. Possible HongIce in the future
1. August 29-31

_August 30, a Friday_

I've arrived at my guardian's home where I'll be staying for the next year or so. Surprisingly the weather in New York is much warmer than I expected. I had packed sweaters and jeans thinking it was going to be thirty-two degrees, but it hadn't dawned on me to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit before I left Iceland. No wonder why Lukas gave me a queer look while I packed. Alfred, my guardian, said it's "Totally okay because he'll find me rad clothes." Hopefully this will be a good chance to become familiar with American culture.

_Later_

Alfred is lending me some of his clothing in the meantime. He almost looked like he was ready to cry when I showed him the heavy cardigans and long stockings I brought, but I jokingly said they're souvenirs from Iceland. My "winter" clothing as he calls it are now stuffed in the back of my absurdly large closet along with my few suitcases. I'm currently wearing ugly-green shorts and a black tee shirt saying something about a band I've never heard of. Alfred just called me down for dinner, and after my meal I have to finish unpacking my useless crap, so I'll probably continue my entry tomorrow sometime.

Góða nótt, Emil

_August 31, a Saturday_

I've just come back from shopping with Alfred. We went to some store to pick up slacks, blazers, and tee shirts because apparently my new school requires uniforms. The slacks are a slight beige color and the blazer a navy blue, a sparkling school symbol of a lion on the right breast. I also had to pick up what seemed like hundreds of books just for ten classes. Twelth grade looks frightening so far.

Turns out Alfred snuck a box of condoms into my bag when I wasn't looking. Poor boy, thinking I'll become close enough to someone to actually have sex with them. The closest I've ever been to a classmate is working in partners with one, and even that alone was miserable. Unless he's making a move on me, he probably just thinks I'll meet a nice girl in one of my classes, get drunk at a party, and become a stud.

I'm going to call Lukas.

_Later_

I just finished talking to my brother. He says he already misses me and he's sending a gift overseas to me. He asked me how things were going so far, and I said they were good, and he asked how my guardian is and I said good, and he asked if I had bought my school supplies yet, and I told him I did, leaving the part out about the condoms. Then Lukas told me how proud he is of me choosing to study abroad and how he wish he had. He also mentioned something about our parents being proud of me from their graves, but I zoned out at that point. The rest of the conversation was awkward, and I was relieved when Alfred wanted to talk with him.

It's not like I don't _like_ talking to my brother, he just seems too motherly. I've never really had parents and Lukas is the only one who've I had in my life to guide me. I know he's worried about me being in a completely different country deep down but doesn't want to show it in case it makes me homesick. Homesick is the last thing to be worried about though. I'm just glad I get to have a little bit more independence without Lukas following me around with his hawk eyes.

My Sunday is going to consist of getting ready for my first day of school on Monday, so I won't be writing much tomorrow. I guess it's goodnight for now.

Love, Emil


	2. September 2

September 2, a Monday

American schools are definitely different from Iceland's. For starts, we stayed in homeroom all day with the exception of lunch (which I luckily brought because the cafeteria stunk of bologna). The teachers passed out schedules and we were able to organize our lockers. Most of the people in my class spent the six hours causing trouble and peering over each other's schedules while I sat in the front of the room, reading Voices by Arnaldur Indrioason to pass the time. Luckily I had my iPod because a couple of sun-kissed blondes were ostentatiously gossiping directly behind my ear. Of Monsters and Men is a good band to drown out woodpeckers with.

Speaking of tans, I'm starting to feel slightly self conscious of how milky white my skin is. If I even take one _step _outside, I'm going to be covered from head to toe in sunburn. Everyone in that building has noticeable tan lines while I'm here looking like a ghost. Maybe that's why no one introduced themselves to me in class.

As for lunch, I packed a tuna sandwich and sat in the farthest corner of the cafeteria by myself while reading my book. Well, I was by myself until someone sat across the circular table from me. He had the stereotypical outcast look, if black shaggy hair and undone blazers are what Americans see as loserish. With a sly grin, he spoke first.

"Sup?"

"Mmm, nothing."

"You new?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Same."

Apparently his name is Leon and he transferred here from Hong Kong during the summer with his half-sister and adoptive dad. He didn't really discuss his other father, but he seems to like him better than his step dad (whom he calls Wang). Leon's sister is in the tenth grade and her name is Mei. According to him, she already has a circle of friends and I'm the first person he's spoken too around his age. I told him about my life so far in my short few days in the states, and he seemed to be holding onto every word I said, even while unconsciously grabbing the cheese sub on his tray and slamming it into his mouth.

Then he gave me his number on a section of my schedule and told me to call him so we can "chill". Leon says I seem cool enough to hang out with, and he seems like a good guy, so maybe I'll call him after dinner.

Oh crap I have homework.


	3. September 3

September 3, a Tuesday

I didn't bother calling Leon last night. By the time I finished my journal entry, it was ten o'clock, and I'm still getting used to the time zone change. And when I meant homework, I meant fill out multiple forms due today. It was midnight before I finished.

Instead of going to homeroom today, I went to an International Students class, which consisted of five students. I'm supposed to have this class instead of English, but I would swap any day. The whole purpose of the class is to help students from other countries feel like they're four years old because of Miss Lowring's teachings. For homework tonight she's making me write a paragraph about my first day of school in English. Not only does that sound immature, but I'm perfectly fluent in the language; Lukas made sure of it, so I don't see the point in doing the assignment.

Leon was in that class, and my science class, and my art class, and we sat next to each other in each of them. It wasn't by my choice of course, it was just the empty seat always seemed to be next to him.

Today I had lunch with Leon again, but this time Mei joined us. Let me just say, she's a spaz. Upon first meeting, she tripped over her own two feet, and somehow her food tray landed perfectly on the table. Then she shook my hand and started to talk about some fashion company in Taiwan, mashed potatoes flying out of her mouth. I don't understand how her brother can stand her. Luckily the bell rang before she could move onto my hairstyle, and that was when Leon and I sprinted out of the cafeteria and into the art room.

The art teacher is Mr. Dublin. He gives off the vibe that he would rather be smoking a little something than be in a room full of rebellious teenagers four times a day. The assignment was simple-just draw something. I always thought I was an exceptional artist until I saw Leon sketch a realistic lily in under twenty minutes while I was still contemplating what to draw. After forty five minutes, I still hadn't gotten anything onto the paper. By this time, I had my face on the page, and when the bell rang, I sat up to see Leon had slipped his sketch under my head.

Scribbling his phone number into my book and giving me a drawing, if I didn't know any better I would think it's flirting.


	4. September 20

_September 20, a Friday_

_Leon: Do you have a swimsuit or something?_

_Me: No, why?_

_Leon: Because I have a pool and I don't want you to sweat your crap out. I have an extra swimsuit so_

_Me: So what?_

_Leon: Get your butt over here and we can go swimming_

_Me: Now?_

_Leon: Now!_

_Leon: Oh yeah and you can sleep over if you want_

So I added his number into my phone and started texting him. What a mistake. He's been texting me 24/7 and it's starting to get a little annoying. Luckily it's a) hot as balls outside and b) a weekend or else I wouldn't have accepted the offer. As rude as it sounds, we're not close. We're friendly and all, but...I don't know.

_September 21, a Saturday_

Leon's house is...different. When I finally arrived after getting lost multiple times (his house is at the bottom of a huge hill), I knocked on the glass door expecting Leon to answer. Instead, their father answered with a too cheery smile. He mentioned that Leon was in his room and then muttered "Probably jacking it", in which Mei strutted down the stairs structured behind him in a skin tight two-piece. When she hit the bottom of the wooden steps, the man yelled at her in Chinese. She replied with something in the same language, squeezing a thumb between her bottoms and her skin in a frustrated fashion.

"Oh my gosh, you're here!" Immediately she pushed past her dad and wrapped her arms around me, making me feel a little irritated in a specific region. I let out a quiet growl as Leon slid down the banister of the stairs and pulled her off of me. Who knew America has such things to offer?

He led me up to his room, which was at the end of a very windy hallway. Inside, he had a bed on the left side, a nightstand next to it, and a dresser on the other wall. Leon opened one of his somewhat messy drawers and pulled out two swim shorts, throwing them onto the bed.

"Choose one."

I ended up picking a bright orange one with yellow flower things on it while he took the other, which was blue and green. He practically pushed me a few feet out of the room and pointed to the bathroom, where I hurriedly changed my clothes in. Almost all of their rooms smell like rice and meat, and the fumes were intoxicating.

After many failed attempts of pulling his shorts down to cover my knees (I'm almost a foot taller than him), I gave up and headed to Leon's room. He waited outside of his door, taking my clothes and duffel bag and throwing them onto his bed. "Let's go," he muttered, taking my wrist and dragging me down the stairs behind him. I have to admit, the swim bottoms really constructed his butt and I'm now wondering if it did the same for me.

Once outside, I was led to their enormous backyard, which consisted of an in-ground pool the width and length of their house and a tiny out-of-place shed. Mei was already in the water, floating on her back and watching the clouds.

"Hey there."

"Mei, get out."

"Why?"

"Because Emil doesn't want to see your flabby stomach take up half the pool."

"I am not flabby!"

Their conversation continued like this for about five minutes. It reminded me of my brother and I having arguments back home, except Lukas would never let it go that far and for that long.

It finally ended with Mei climbing out and shoving him into the deep end. Leon popped up to the surface, glistening with little water drops.

"Come on in, the water's fine!" he exclaimed, swimming over to me and grabbing my ankles. I was dragged under with one swift motion. When I felt Leon let go, Mei came out of nowhere and grabbed my wrists, leaning forward to kiss me. I was able to dodge her in time, swimming up to the air. Her seductive flamingo-pink bikini wasn't going to get to me today.

We continued swimming until our fingers became prunier than a barrel of, well, prunes. Mei had gone inside to help with dinner while Leon and I talked about some things, from how our day had been so far to our favorite animals. Honestly, I was enjoying myself. I think I've bonded with him more _now_ then I have the past three weeks of school.

I found out that he had a girlfriend back in China, so that obviously means he's straight, right? The 'flirting' must have been some act of kindness or something Asian people do. I also learned he has an older brother back in Macau, studying business ethics.

"I suggested to him that he should come to America and open up a Chinese restaurant, but he slapped me in the back of my head. Lol."

Yet another wave of meat crossed my nose and we both got up and headed inside. Leon pulled out my chair, whispered, "No homo", and sat down next to me at the dining room table. Mei sat on the other side of me, scooting her seat a little too close to mine.

Once the food was set onto the table, their father sat down and shouted something along the lines of, "How ping bah!" and started eating. The display of food was making my stomach growl, so I grabbed a little of everything in front of me, which happened to be just meats and vegetables. I don't know the names of it, but there was one dish with shrimp and stir-fry that I highly enjoyed.

After dinner, Leon led me back upstairs while Mei went into the living room and "Mr. Yao" cleaned up. By the time we were in his room, I checked his clock and noticed it was almost eight thirty. I was supposed to call Alfred an hour before, but then again he had mentioned that it didn't mater whether or not I actually called him. Besides, he probably would have called their number if he was concerned.

We spent the next couple of hours talking more about our families. Leon was taken away from his present father when he was seven and lived with some guy in Britain, who he considers to be his 'true' father. About six months ago, his biological dad proved he was a responsible parent and he had to go back with him. He also got custody of Mei and their brother Kiku, but Kiku turned eighteen and was able to flee to Japan. Now things are tight between Leon and his dad because he used to be a drug addict or something and those are the only memories he has of him.

I talked about how I live with my creepy older brother on a puffin farm back in Iceland. When I mean creepy, I mean he should probably be locked up. Lukas is nice and a caring brother and all, but he would rub my shoulders and kiss me on the lips every morning before I went to school. That's another reason why I was desperate to come to America; I could get away from him. Of course I didn't tell this to Leon.

We changed into our sleepwear around elevenish. I only wore my tank top and boxers while he wore pants. Just pants. There wasn't enough room on his floor, so I had to sleep beside him in his bed. Right before I climbed in, I said, "I think your sister is flirting with me." Then he said, "Hold on," and grabbed a full spray bottle from under his bed and walked out of the room. I don't know what was in it, but after a few seconds I heard "Eew, stop it!" come from Mei and saw a pleased Leon come back to the room.

Then, he jumped into bed and I followed suit, staying as close to the edge as I could. Leon latched onto my body, pulled me close to him, and yet again whispered, "No homo." He was really warm and I wish I was able to stay cuddled up to him (no homo), but I woke this morning to find myself on the floor and him sprawled out under the covers. There was just something, I don't know if it was the drool covering half of his face or the ways his hair was spread out, but I could feel my heart do that thing where it misses a beat and you feel like you're about to have a heart attack. I also felt my face heat up, which was when he decided to wake up and find me flustered.

"You okay? Your face is kind of red."

"Yeah, I'm okay..."

"You can leave now, if you'd like to. I'm not going to be fully awake until this afternoon."

"Sure, okay."

Leon fell back to sleep and I changed into the clothes I wore yesterday, sneaking out of the house by ten thirty and arriving back home at eleven o' five. Now here I am, writing this at noon while eating shitty American cereal for brunch and trying to balance biology homework at the same time. I'll write again when I can.

Love,

Emil

* * *

/When China says "How ping ba!", he means "Hǎopíng ba!", or "Praise it!"


End file.
